Have you ever been on a software project and asked yourself "where has
all the time gone" ? Often the reason why a project is late, is because
of all the time being spent on stuff that doesn't help get to the end
goal of a deployed system. On an average project some 70-80% of the
time could be classified as waste (waiting, hand offs, extra processes,
extra features, defects, motion, partially done work). So although
automating tasks is a great thing to do, in order to deliver software
faster you have to work out how to reduce the waste. For most projects a
20% reduction in waste is easier to achieve than a 20% increase in
automation, and has a much bigger impact on when the project is
delivered. If you're interested in understanding more about how IBM's
collaborative lifecycle management tools can help, then Paula White and I
have just published an article looking at how the tools can help with the various forms of software development waste.